Look at north-east England

England’s north-east is an area of 9,000 square kilometres, containing 2.5 million people, five universities, two major ports, two international airports, and the major cities and towns of Darlington, Durham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland. Its economic growth currently exceeds that of both London and the south-east, and is higher than the national average. Gross value added is nearly £13,000 per head.

The proportion of new business survivals is higher than for many years and business failure rates are similar to the national average. In 2003 the region was the most active one outside London for hi-tech business start-ups. Since 2000, unemployment has fallen every year from 108,000 to 64,000 in a workforce of 1,100,000. As a percentage of the economically active population it has dropped from 7.1 per cent in 2001 to 5.9 per cent in 2004, and is still falling faster than are national levels.

It is a leading UK region in terms of science and technology, offering a variety of trade and investment opportunities. Science parks including Knowledge Campus and Netpark support this growth, with major investment also going into health sciences, new and renewable energy, and process industries.

Creative industries like content-based businesses, including computer games and video production, are now growing faster in the north-east than anywhere else in England, with more than 2,800 creative businesses employing 26,000 people. Only London has a higher rate of hi-tech start-ups.

Major sectors include property and business services, retail, construction, hotels and catering, production and agriculture. World-class companies like Nissan – with a north-east facility that has been Europe’s most productive car plant for the past seven years – are well established, while the region is home to 585 overseas companies. More than 180 of them are US businesses employing over 27,000 people and investing £500 million into the region annually. The top-four sectors for US investment are biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, automotive engineering, chemicals and engineering.

Although the region still contains areas of deprivation, its tourism sector contributes around £1 billion annually to the economy and contains 10 per cent of the region’s jobs; with 540,000 overseas visitors in 2004.

Opportunities and skills shortages

There is a constant demand for construction trades such as carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, electricians and painter/decorators. LGV drivers and mechanics are also needed, while the telecommunication, IT and computing industries are the subject of new initiatives to reinvigorate them. Other sectors looking to fill vacancies include administration, hospitality (although low-paid and often seasonal), nursing, factory production (generally not pursued by Service leavers except for big companies), and accounting. There is also work in light engineering, fabricating/metalworking, training and call centres.

Employer news

Major employers by size of workforce are Arriva (31,000), Greggs (18,000), Reg Vardy (5,400), Nissan (4,500), Barratt Developments (4,200), Bellway (1,900), Huntsman International (1,700), Thyssenkrupp Tallent (1,600) and The Sage Group (1,500).

Huntsman is investing £200 million in the Tees Valley, while Nisai (learning and education) has relocated part of its business to Middlesbrough, creating 120 jobs in the next three years. Nissan is to build a fifth car model at its Sunderland plant, and Argos is building a major new distribution centre in Darlington, expected to employ up to 700 people.

The Biofuels Corporation is constructing the world’s largest biofuels-producing complex at Seal Sands in the Tees Valley, serving markets in the UK and Europe. SembCorp Utilities UK is set to build a major biomass renewable energy project, also in the Tees Valley, that will create around 400 jobs during its construction as well as job opportunities in the farming, forestry, construction, wood recycling and transport sectors.

Process and chemical industries employ over 34,000 people directly with a further 200,000 people employed in support companies. The Teesside International Airport expansion will create 2,000 jobs at the airport and a further 4,000 jobs indirectly. British Airways call centre employment in Newcastle is set to rise by 230, Atmel on north Tyneside is employing 150 more people, while Greggs Bakers in Newcastle is taking on 150 more staff. Procter & Gamble is creating over 200 jobs at its new Global Business Service Centre in North Tyneside, taking the number of its employees in the north-east to 1,500.

Atmel has hit record production levels at the former Siemens site on Tyneside, which was abandoned six years ago with the loss of 1,000 jobs. It has more than doubled the workforce to 700. TRW Systems created 170 jobs in County Durham in an investment programme that will also safeguard the jobs of 430 existing workers.

Salaries

A rough guide to salaries in the region is given below. This is inevitably very general and there will be variations between industries and also in various parts of the north-east.

Manual £10,000 to £13,000

Semi-skilled £12,000 to £16,000

Skilled and supervisory £16,000 to £22,000

Managerial £19,000 to £30,000

Executive £30,000 to £45,000 and upwards

House price guide

The following prices are a rough guide only to property prices and are liable to overnight change as financial factors in the country as well as in the region affect housing.

Location 2-bed terrace 2-bed flat 3-bed semi 4-bed detached

City £150,000 £175,000 £200,000 £250,000

Town £110,000 £130,000 £180,000 £220,000

Country £80,000 £100,000 £160,000 £200,000